


The Journeys of Scylla's Sabre:Sea of Storms

by StormRoad



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Pirate, F/M, Friends to Lovers, M/M, POV First Person, POV Percy Jackson, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-04
Updated: 2020-09-03
Packaged: 2021-03-05 21:42:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 15,539
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25712278
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StormRoad/pseuds/StormRoad
Summary: Born poor with a penchant for the sea and sailing. Percy Jackson is a mere cadet on the Cadmus, a sailing ship of the Greek Empire, doing everything just to earn a wage to let his Mother and Brother live comfortably and persue their own passions while ignoring his own.  When  pirate raid on his ship awakens strange new powers within him, he is thrust into the world of high seas and high adventure upon the Scylla's Sabre with a band of adventerous scalliwags. Percy starts to learn more about himself, his origins and what he really wants to persue and be alongside the beautiful Captain and her loyal crew of rapscallions.
Relationships: Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson, Silena Beauregard/Charles Beckendorf
Comments: 2
Kudos: 13





	1. I get a little tied up

**Author's Note:**

> I know, a Pirate AU, whats new about this? Well, I have a twist on it that I hope you all will enjoy as I create this high seas adventure. I welcome any and all feedback from you guys about it and I want to know all your thoughts and feelings about it. Yo ho.

I let out a happy hum as my hammock swung to and fro with the ship's motion. Closing my eyes, I almost felt the ocean, the planks creaking, and the various men running across the deck as if the vessel was an extension of my own body. 

“Jackson! Get up to the main deck and start cleaning! Can’t have you dilly-dallying here, can we?” I groaned at Ethan’s voice, shaking me from my relaxation time and got up slowly stretching a bit and nodding.

I fingered the locket on my chest, the cool metal reminding me why I was doing this. Family came before everything else. I cracked my neck before walking through the dark decks of the ship, but I could tell where everything on the boat was anyways.

“The waters are mighty fine today, I don’t think any storms are on the horizon.” I grunted a bit, we had already had to avoid two of those on this journey after setting out a few days ago! I climbed the stairs to the top deck, taking a deep breath as the fresh, salty air of the sea invaded my nostrils. Caribbean sun shining down on my face, banishing the chill from below decks that had invaded my being. 

“Well, let’s hope you’re feeling is right again Jackson. We are already running a bit late with this shipment.” I nodded a hum, I set out to grab a bucket and mop to start swabbing the deck. Then taking a moment to look out at the vast ocean, enjoying the green-blue water churning beneath us as far as the eye could see.

As we got up on the deck, I could hear howling wails of pain from some poor crewmate of mine. The sharp crack of a flog causing me to flinch each time. “That’s what you get for trying to sneak an extra piece of bread you piece of trash!” Another crack of the flog. “You should be glad to work on a ship like this, but still you try to take more than you should!” I cringed, my fist tightening, I wanted to...Help him somehow, show up the flogger, and Tabern’s rules but... If I lost this job, my family would go back to begging quickly. Everything was for them, mom gave her everything raising us. It was high time I pay her back with an easier life now.

I dipped my mop in the bucket to start the cleaning job a shanty tune under my breath. “Hey!” one of the sailors said. “Better not let the captain catch you doing that.”Not that the captain could actually stop me from enjoying an upbeat sailing tune but whatever...Looking up and back at sea, just to soak in the image of seabirds flying alongside the ship, I noticed something on the horizon. A small black spot, getting bigger by the moment. Pausing for a bit, I squinted to see what was there, and coming into view, the sea-blue and orange standing out against the azure sky. I gulped, recognizing the flag but, I had a bad feeling about the ship. It didn’t look like a normal merchant’s. Why would an Aethiopian ship be after a Greek merchant’s? They were sailing much too fast to just be passing by us...Crap! 

“Pirates!” The shout alerted everyone around, who started to rush towards their various battle stations while I was panicking a bit. This was just supposed to be a simple merchant ship! I wasn’t supposed to be engaging in battles! I had to do something though, didn’t I? The ship on the horizon was closing in on us fast, and I could feel our own ship creaking under the force of various people running around on top of the deck, loading up the few cannons we had for some reason.

I rushed up towards the helm, where Tabern looked down at everyone with a condescending smirk on his face. “What are you doing, sir?! The way they are preparing, we won’t be able to escape!” My exclamation was met with a harsh smack across my face from the cruel blond man as he stared down at me with a laugh.

“Jackson, who are you to be questioning your superior? We are not going to run from these heathens, no, we are going to fight them off, not lose a single spice that is supposed to go to the crown!” That word, the crown, almost made bile come from my mouth, but I managed to contain myself and simply nodded. 

“Of course, sir, what do you want me doing? I just signed up as a civilian seaman, I haven't been told of a battle station yet.” I tried to suppress my disgust for the royalty I now served as I slowly got up, only for Tabern to shift the wheel a bit while I was unsteady, making me lose my balance and go sprawling down the stairs. A sneer on Tabern's face the whole time. My nose bloodied, the blood clogging my sinuses and the head trauma making everything a little dizzy. 

“I heard that tone, Jackson! You should know who is in command of this ship! You follow my orders, and if I hear more of that attitude, I will have you keel hauled faster than you can say Pufferfish!” I wanted to growl, to show him up, I glared at Tabern, wanting him to hurt, to say he was sorry when suddenly, an old, splintery plank snapped up from underneath Tabern’s legs, slamming into his back with a thwack before he fell over, and the wheel smacked him across the face quickly. 

“Do you want a little aid for that, sir? Or will you be fine?” I had to really suppress my laughter, Tavern stared down at me with a glare, a bruise starting to form on his eye. He looked at me with pure contempt. 

“No need, Jackson, stay on the deck, help with the ropes, and no matter what, don’t leave it.” The slight snarl and smirk told me one thing, he didn't expect me to survive the day.The first wave of cannon fire soon hit our ship, shaking the deck around, and my hand whipped around to grasp onto any rope. Finding one quickly to steady me before I turned to face the enemy ship, managing to read the name. “Scylla’s Sabre.” 

Looking across the deck, I saw a half dozen people smiling at me wickedly before they started cutting ropes and swinging across and onto the floor, drawing their blades, and I cursed a little bit. I only had a dagger on me. Turning away from them, I started to run through the deck as it exploded into battle. All around me, the sounds of blades clashing against each other rang through my ears.

Looking behind me, I saw two pirates who looked nearly identical approaching me their curly brown hair and pointed ears, paired with their sabers made them look like demented Elves. They seemed determined to chase me, so I kept running, ducking under and through the various fights, wishing for this to be over. Soon enough, though, I was trapped by the ship's edge with my two pursuers still there. Bringing out my dagger, trying to hold myself steady, I wasn’t trained with the blade at all, but it was better than nothing right?

“Well, dear brother. It seems like this one is a bit of a coward. Can’t blame him though, we do look rather scary.” The first pirate, who was slightly shorter than the other, snickered my eyes wandered around. Was there anything I could use as a better weapon?

“Maybe I do, but you don’t...Anyways he may be a coward, yeah, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t fast. Almost outran us there, but then again, we are stuck on a ship, there aren’t many places he could go. Though it looks like he only has that butter knife, should we make this a fair fight?” My hopes got up, I was decent with a sabre when I had one, it's just that none of the swords given to me ever seemed balanced right, but it could give me what I needed to survive here. Though in case, my eyes drifted to a metal bucket, some planks and the ropes above stretching down near me.

“Dude, we are Privateers now, remember? We don’t have to play fair.” The brother’s mocking smirk and nod killed any hope I had before they jumped at me, the taller one’s blade flashing out, slamming against my dagger, wrenching it from my grip and out into the sea. 

The other brother was soon to follow up, his cutlass sicing through the air and I acted on nothing but adrenaline thrusting my hand forward and instinctively calling for something to catch them. Suddenly, the ropes from behind me seemed to snap forward and catch the two boys by their ankles before zipping up into the air, hanging them upside down, dangling in the sky like that. Did...Did I do that? Looking up at the two boys now dangling mid-air by their feet, I heard one of them sigh.

“Why couldn’t we even get the coward, Travis?” 

“I don’t know Connor, why did you get caught up in the damn rope?” With wide eyes, I reached out and slowly lowered my hand, sort of commanding the ropes to lower as well, and to my surprise...It followed my command, it was doing exactly what I wanted. Holy crap! I looked among the various fights and smiled a bit to myself. If I could command all the ropes like that, even the cute ones, then...I could really help out my crew here! Smiling a bit, I raised my hands and started to focus more on the ship. 

Once again, closing my eyes, feeling the Cadmus’ Deck, of the people running around on top of it, fighting, engaged in their own little wars around me before I opened my eyes and pulled downwards. Mentally commanding all the free ropes, everything wasn’t essential to fly down and pull up all the pirates by their feet. Catching them and hoisting each one up into the air on my command. Or at least that was how I imagined it because, in reality, only three of the ropes came forward to lash around a few of the raiders, when I opened my eyes to see it happen. I was met with the image of dark gray irises, looking at me with an intensity that made me shiver and step back instinctively, I saw her shout something, and the cannons emerged from her ship again. 

Reacting quickly as I could, I dropped control of the ropes before splaying my hands in front of me and commanding the ship to brace, ready for a barrage of cannonballs. As expected, I could feel the iron balls slamming against the hull, ripping through the wood, but it seemed my bracing had done something, as we didn't take any significant damage. 

As I did this, I could feel those gray eyes on me the entire time. She seemed to shout something else, and a large man, his skin much too dark for a simple tan, with a hulking figure and bulging muscles, took the helm. 

The lady grabbed a rope and swung herself over to the ship, wind blowing her Captain’s hat back to Scylla’s Saber's deck and unleashing a cascade of blond curls flying behind her hair, glistening in the Caribbean sun before she landed, sword in hand. I knew I was the target once again, and all I had for a weapon was the ship, and I don’t even know how much power I had over that!

“Crap! Crap!” I looked around and found the fallen cutlass of one of the pirates, and I dived to get it. Picking up the blade, with hope, I cursed, feeling it was unbalanced again! It was too heavy by the hilt, still. It might let me survive as the woman was on me in moments, dancing elegantly through the battlefield, her blade coming out in a flash and I could barely raise my sword in time to block it. 

The metal clang rang out before we engaged with our blades, the girl’s intense glare burning into me as I danced around the deck. With each blow I felt like something was off... The way she moved, she was clearly highly trained for this, but then, why wasn’t she ending it now?

The woman’s silent glare was unnerving as I was made to back up more. My eyes flashed around, and I tried mentally commanding the ropes to lash around her. She just avoided those with some fancy footwork, pivoting and spinning around to deliver a slash to my side. I gulped, looking for anything that could help me...There! I noted the grate on the deck, which we used to lower cargo into the hull

“You know, it’s pretty surprising to see a woman on a ship. Especially manning the helm, I thought it was supposed to be bad luck?” I spoke, time to keep her attention on me and way from the surroundings for once as I backed up that way.

“You think you’re good enough to talk while in a fight? My my, aren’t you cocky for a lowly cabin boy. But if you must inquire about me, the ship couldn’t sail very well without its Captain, could it?” I gulped, Captain? 

This woman was the captain?! No time to dwell on that though, I had to keep up the meager defence that I could. I continued my defensive dueling, the weight of the sword starting to exhaust me swinging it like this and using it as a brace while approaching the grate.

“How does a woman become a Captain? I thought that the navy didn’t allow for any female captains. Women are barely allowed on ships as passengers as is.” With every graceful slash that the Captain made, I took another few steps backward, towards my goal. She chuckled a bit at my question, completely confident and assured that she would win this battle handily.

“Maybe, but Pirates aren’t exactly known for following the law, are they?” Almost there, almost... I took a few more steps back. I really was focusing on where we were going. 

I smiled, “I suppose you are right there, It is still impressive though, you must be pretty tricky to get into a position like that.” I dodged as her blade lanced out, “Tricky like this!” With a flex of my will, the grate beneath her feet opened, and we fell into darkness. 

“You know you have blinded us both in here, right?” I heard the girl speak from around me before I chuckled and closed my eyes, focusing entirely on the ship's feeling, focusing it around me, and I could sense her weighI focused on the ship around me, feeling a weight on a floorboard to my left. 

“Maybe you are.” I brought my sword up defensively as the girl charged in. It sucked that I could only tell where she was positioned, but that was fine. It wasn’t like she could always tell where my blade would be either.

Soon we started our clash again, my sword meeting hers easier this time. I was able to keep up with her blade in the dark at least. It took a lot of my focus to keep up my sensing and this swordfight at the same time though, it was exhausting with each sword swipe. 

I could feel the off-balance of the sword wearing down on me more. Each swing had the blade feeling more substantial and cumbersome. It took more stamina to bring it up and block. But the Captain’s blows were relentless as ever.

“You know, I never expected you to last this long honestly; you're using those powers of yours to help you some time, right?” That took me by surprise, what the heck did she know about...Whatever was going on? What the hell did she know about me? I just grunted a bit and decided to focus more on maybe tiring her out. The break-in focus was enough for my sense to vanish for a moment.

“No answer? Shame, but I guess that I’ll have to find more about you later then.” As the girl was invisible to my detection for a moment, she stepped in silently. as I recollected myself, found her place and raised a blade to block an expected blow. Her body suddenly went on one foot, and the last thing I felt was the heavy flat of a blade knocking into my temple, pushing me over the edge into unconsciousness.

-  
I woke up feeling the gentle creak and groan of a ship beneath me. I let out a sigh before slowly opening my eyes and looking around, blinking at the low light coming in from the candles, slowly adjusting to the view. At the same time, I concentrated, spread out my feeling like I did beforehand to the ship. It was strange, doing this intentionally, devoting my entire being to it instead of doing it in a panic. Once I did, I could imagine the whole ship around me: the walls, where the candles were, the floorplan, and...It was all different, not like the Cadmus. Where was I? The view, extending it that far, the feelings, was all vague, I couldn’t really tell anything about the people up in the various decks, only that they were there. 

“Well, that's concerning.” I focused the feeling back onto my surroundings again, shrinking the area of feeling to a few feet around me, everything became clearer, including the door in front of me, made of iron bars, well it seemed I was in the brig.

I knew, I didn’t know how but, I knew where we were, not far off from where I was knocked out, but headed south towards Colombia. I better brush up on my Spanish then. Suddenly, the room was flooded with more light as a door from above opened up and down and walked the hulking black man from before, it wasn’t unusual to see a sailor with his skin tone, I knew that. What surprised me was the natural confidence with which he carried himself. 

“So, you’re finally awake. Didn’t know the Captain hit you that hard.” Ok, so I was probably a prisoner on the ship that attacked mine, but then I had to wonder...Why was I on this ship? Why was I taken prisoner, I wasn’t a noble of any kind. I had no status, and no one would pay a dime for my ransom, well I had no one that could afford a ransom. My family would probably pay for me in a heartbeat if they knew I was in trouble. 

“How long was I under?” I spoke to the man, his dark complexion standing out against the flickering light of the deck, making him look like some sort of muscle-bound pirate ghost. The man shrugged.

“A day at least, you’re lucky that the Captain decided to give you medical attention. Otherwise, you probably would have died from all those cuts.” The man spoke kind words, but in a slightly cold tone, and with an accent I couldn’t quite place. The chill in his words, the slight edge to what he spoke, it unnerved me as I sat in the brig.

“Well, it seems that paying the dear lady compliments ended well for me after all. Don’t you think, sir?” I grinned at him, maybe the guy was a bloodthirsty pirate, yeah, but that didn’t mean he was deprived of a sense of humor, right? From The slight curling of the man’s scowling lips, I knew I was right and gave him a double snap. Maybe if I befriended this guy, I could convince him to let me off with my life!

“Maybe, though, I wouldn’t get too concerned with that. The Captain doesn’t like suck-ups.” I nodded, no fake flirting with the Captain, whoever she was. Good to know, still I had to wonder, sitting here, on a sailing ship rocking in the waves, What was he doing guarding the brig? Surely there were more important things for a guy like him to do. He was the helmsman when the Captain was away after all!

“I’m gonna warn you because it’s only fair. The Captain took an interest in those powers of yours, She is probably going to ask you questions. I recommend that you answer her honestly and concisely. She will be kind and respectful if you are kind in turn.” Ah, so that's why I was captured. I guess I didn’t blame the Captain for that. Anyone would be curious about the boy who could seemingly make a ship respond to his every whim. 

“Thank you for the advice, though...I don’t know much about the powers myself, so um...I am guessing your Captain will be disappointed in me. Hopefully, that doesn’t get me killed though, I’ve always wanted to see Colombia. I wonder how different it is from Jamaica.” The black man raised an eyebrow at that, and I just gave him a smile. I didn’t know why I had these powers, or why I was only really noticing them now, but I wasn’t going to complain. 

“That’s another question, I guess. The Captain should be down here to start in a little-” He was interrupted by a loud crash and a curse from the upper deck, and I heard them loose a loud groan. I knew that look on his face, it was the look that the first mate on the Cadmus had whenever I messed something up. He looked at me and shrugged. “I have to go take care of that. Remember my advice, be honest, stay true, and the Captain will probably be fine with you.”

I nodded, I had no idea how that was supposed to really help, but whatever. He was pleasant and decided to give me his advice on not dying on a pirate ship. I decided I liked that guy already. Hopefully, we would have many conversations like this...If I wasn’t thrown off the ship in the next day or so. 

Once the first mate was gone, I decided to sit where I was and started to concentrate inwards. Trying to feel out everything I could about the ship, suddenly. I felt a familiar weight approaching the deck above where I was, and sure enough, the Captain was there. She climbed down to take a good look at my face. I stared back, noticing a few things I wasn’t able to during our fight, like the scar going across her left eye, the white, discolored tissue standing out against the tan as she blinked at me. Though, whatever caused that scar didn’t mar her vision clearly, as that eye wasn’t milky or clouded over, as she stared right at me I felt both pupils studying me as I did her. 

“Alright, I’m going to make this quick. In the raid, you displayed some weird...Control over the boat you were on. I want to know everything about it, how does it work? Are only you in command of it, and most importantly, how were you able to do that?” I gulped, feeling those stormy gray eyes staring right into my soul as I squirmed under her gaze. Unsure of how to answer her... The first mate said, be honest, right? Then, let’s be honest and hope it works out.

“Honestly, ma-am, I don't know."


	2. I piss off a giant

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok another chapter, here we go. Into the world of pirates and swashbuckling again. I hope you dont find this to be too common or cliche of me to do this.

The Captain stared at me through the iron bars after I answered her, I imagined he was contemplating how to properly throw me to the sharks. Her eyes were a little full of frustration while she stared at me, I had no idea why I had these powers, honestly. 

“Are you absolutely sure? If we know about how you got those powers, we could help control them.” I gulped but nodded my head, I had honestly no idea. They were just something I always had, I guess, just never noticing them until now. The woman sighed a bit before turning and letting out a curse. “Do you know who your parents are? Both of them?” Strange question but whatever.

“I know who my mother is. Sally Jackson, I never knew my father. Mom always said he was just a Greek Sailor who has a whirlwind romance with her one summer, she doesn’t regret it though.” With that new information, the Captain’s eyes widened as if she just figured something out. She started to pace around the room, a worried look on her face the whole time.

“Um...Is there anything else you need to know?” She froze, the Captain letting out a small hum before turning around again, her intense irises standing out in the flickering light. Looking like stormclouds.

“A few more questions couldn’t hurt, I guess...First off, why didn’t you kill my crewmembers back on the ship during the raid? The way you lashed them with that rope trick of yours, you could have hung them better than any gallows, yet I was able to recover each and every one of my men.” When she spoke, I heard a soft undertone to her voice. It was nice, and clearly hoping for the “right” answer. Meanwhile, I hadn’t even thought of that, it was just something that happened.

“I guess...I just didn’t want to kill them. I didn’t want to become a killer, I never did even when I signed up for the Navy cause they were the only ones who would take me.” I swallowed some, hoping that was the right answer. Cause it was only the truth, the thought of killing, of ending someone’s life with my own two hands. It left a bad taste in my mouth, I didn’t want to snuff out the flame of another person’s life while working to give to my family. Making sure they could live comfortably as possible.

“Hm, then why were you on the merchant's vessel in the first place? Naval battles are bloody, brutal affairs, where there is usually no room for mercy or compassion. So, I ask again why? Why were you determined not to kill when everyone else on that ship wouldn’t hesitate?”

“What can I say? This is all to support my family back home, my little brother, he wants to be a bladesmith, he has quite the talent for it as well...But you know that's an expensive hobby to get into, and practice and none of the smiths in Port Royal want an apprentice at the moment. I don’t want to end lives while supporting clothes, seems...wrong.” I sat there for a while after that, smiling at the thought of my adopted younger brother, wondering how he was doing with mom back home. 

“Hard to believe a place full of pirates and soldiers lacks people to make quality swords.” I laughed at that, before shaking my head at her.

“Quality swords? No one wants quality swords right now, Right now, it's all about making as many blades in as little time as possible, the blades are made to be replaced, none are created to last more than a few months at the most. Or at least that’s what Ty tells me.” I didn’t get what he meant by the mass production of blades, but I did know that nothing fit me quite right. “My brother, he wants to make...I wouldn’t call it art, but he wants to make blades fashioned to an individual, where one blade can last someone a lifetime with proper care and maintenance. He wants to be a true artisan, too bad no one else does at the moment.”

The woman’s eyes widened for a moment, obviously thinking about something and going to her own sheathed sword, the hilt having the mark of the royal navy on it. A fancily made A inlaid in gold. “Well, I might be in the market for a blade like that.” I raised an eyebrow at her. 

“Well, I don’t think my brother would forge anything of quality for my captor and or killer. So it seems we are at a bit of an impasse, aren’t we?” The Captain simply shook her head, a smirk playing on her lips while she stared at me. 

“How would he like to serve your captain and employer, however?” Well, that was unexpected, though I wasn’t sure what I expected from the pirate Captain, for now, I thought I was dead from the moment I admitted that I didn’t know how my powers worked but no...She wanted to employ me still?

“And join up with a pirate crew? I don’t think my mother would appreciate me joining with those who killed all my former crewmates.” The Captain huffed a bit, was I wrong? The woman shook her head before turning to walk off towards the exit.

“We are not Pirates! We are privateers, and you better remember that. Pirates are brutal, bloodthirsty criminals, but my and my crew, we have integrity, and honor to our battles you hear me!” I flinched away from her, yelling as she pressed herself against the bars, I had clearly offended her with my words.

“Sorry! Sorry, got it! Not brutal, murderous pirates but respectful, murderous privateers. I get that.” 

“Your mother might not like the idea of you on a dangerous ship like this, but I thought she would prefer her boy coming home alive and employed.” She looked at me with trepidation despite the ultimatum, and her having all the power here. “And just so you know, we didn’t kill anyone aboard your former ship. At least not intentionally, didn’t even damage the hull beyond repair. We just took the cargo we needed, they are probably on they’re way to the nearest port as we speak.” It could be a lie, one to make me feel better and join their crew, but there was an earnestness in the Captain’s voice that said otherwise. 

“Is that true? Then she might approve just enough to convince her, Mothers ya know? Can’t do anything without their approval first.” The Captain paused on her way up the ladder, eyes full of sorrow, but there as a glint of humor in there, I could see it clearly. 

“Well, when you reach your final decision, come find me in the Captain’s quarters. I will give you a day to think about it, let’s hope you make a wise choice.” She continued upwards, leaving me alone in my cell to think about my options here. Also, how was I supposed to get out of this situation without becoming a criminal? Well, I guessed I wouldn’t be if I was a privateer, would I? 

Taking in a deep breath, I once again started my little feeling out session. Usually, I would be twitchy, not comfortable in this confined space. Still, being able to direct my attention outwards, focus on so many things, it took my mind off of the cramped cell, preventing my mind from wandering too much.

I tried to stretch out what I felt, I didn’t know how I got these powers, but that was no reason not to understand how they worked. The gentle bobbing in the water was peaceful as I stretched my senses around the ship, things getting fuzzier, unclear as I tried to focus farther away from my body. It needed more focus to maintain, but I could do it. Pursing my lips, I let in a few breaths to deepen my concentration as I tried to feel along the hull. The sensation of water rushing by without any of the temperature seeping in was strange, but it lets me focus more on how the currents themselves were moving around the ship. 

The water was getting choppier for some reason, swirling around in the water, it was light though there was probably another storm brewing and from the feel of the water, this ship was headed right into it! I couldn't exactly tell the crew this though...So I needed to shift things slightly, I imagined the boat itself turning somewhat to the right, not enough to be really noticeable, but it would change our direction enough to avoid it. The ship’s slight creaking with the turn made me grin. Hopefully, that worked! Bringing my attention back to my own cell again, I opened my eyes and yawned, feeling drained, and my stomach was growling, Using magic or whatever must consume a lot of energy, good to keep in mind. 

Thankfully, the door opened again after that, and the first mate climbed down with a wooden bowl in hand. He slid open the food slit slowly before passing it over to me, and I took it graciously. Looking in, I saw it was a rice bowl, a deep one filled with little bits of color. “Eat it, those are the rations you will get when you join the crew.” I raised an eyebrow, but it wasn’t like I was doing anything else. So, I took the spoon in hand and dipped it into the rice, getting a bit of the gray and yellow chunks in the spoonful and lifted it to my mouth. My eyes widening as the flavors washed over my tongue. 

I could taste it, pork, salted pork, but still somehow with an essence of freshness among the fattiness there, along with a sharp tang cutting through it all, compelling me to dip the spoon in the rice again, and again. All of that was permeated by a fine sauce that had soaked into rice grains. This was the best thing I ever had on a ship! “Yeah, that's the usual reaction. Heck, I think that at least half of the crew joined after tasting our daily rations.” 

This was...What they got daily? Dear Lord, what did the Captain eat in comparison to this?! Far too soon, my bowl was empty of the rice, and I felt my stomach was nice and full with the food. “I think I might want to be one of those many. Though I would probably just be stuck in the lower decks like my last crew, eh?” I grinned at the First Mate, who just shook his head.

“No, I told the Captain about how you knew we were going to Columbia despite being in here. How did you figure that out?”

“I don’t know...I just kinda knew it? I also know how fast we are going, around 9 knots, right?” I got a nod in response.

“Yeah, so that kind of intuition, we can’t afford to keep that down here where your talents would be wasted. Annabeth wants to put you up on the helm when you join up.” 

“Annabeth?”

“Yeah, that's the captain’s name, I thought that woulda been obvious.” 

“You’re already trusting me with her name? Well, I guess I can do the same, mine’s Percy.” I leaned back against the nearest wall while I spoke, yawning slightly, this man, he was friendly enough I supposed. Didn’t hide anything at least, I could trust him.

“Beckendorf, I’m gonna be one of your superior officers.” 

“Well, Beckendorf, as long as you are honest with me, and aren’t suppressing my musical talents, we should get along fine.” 

“Musical Talents?” I nodded before coughing a bit. Letting out a low hum while extending my feeling again to get the general bob up and down of the boat on the waves, using that as a metronome. It was slow, so a pub ballad was good. 

“I’m a big fan of music, singing while I’m working. Pretty useful when you spend most of the day staring out at the blue waters.” I continued humming after that, watching Beckendorf nod along to the song. 

“Yeah, there’ll be no problem with that, as long as you don't mind some eager crewmembers joining in.”

“The more, the merrier, songs are meant to be enjoyed by crowds and heard by all.” So, it was a pretty much guarantee I was joining up with them now, I guessed. I matched Bekendorf’s playful grin with my own. He seemed much nicer than the First Mate on the Cadmus, I would probably earn a better wage as a helmsman of the Scylla’s Sabre than I ever could on a merchant ship... The Captain, Annabeth, was a little uptight for me, but that might just be the situation. 

“I have one question for you, though. What are your feelings when it comes to who you used to serve? The Crown of Greece?” 

“Depends.”

“On what?”

“Who’s asking.” I gulped some, looking to the food bowl again, wishing I had more to eat, though that might not be the best. “Also, the time of day. Because if it’s a loyalist to the crown, one that has power over me like my old Captain or his officers, of course, I would tell him that...I loved the crown, that they are gracious in the way that they gave me a job, that they are providing for their people perfectly and spreading their-” I gagged a bit. “Spreading their wonderful influence throughout the world.” 

“The time of day affects if I have to pause a bit to swallow the sick that would emerge from my stomach at that thought, you see. If I haven't eaten anything, then nothing comes up.” He nodded, looking a little concerned.

“If someone like you asks me, who is in opposition to the crown well... I would tell you that those bastards who decided to tax my mother into the ground can go to Hell! Actually no, Hell would probably be too good for them! I want them to see a boy, only 12, whose best meals come from scrounging around his home, stealing citrus from the local farmers, or friends with the kind pub owner. “ I heard the vitriol in my voice as I spoke, and felt the ship start to rock a little... Was I affecting it? I took in a deep breath to calm down, and make the ship stop it rocking. “Maybe then, “god-king Thesus” would know to hold back on how much he charges us to live.” 

“Well, glad to hear you are no fan. Because we here on the ship, well at least the officers, we all have...Particular reservations about the king of Greece so you’ll fit right in.” 

“Great, well now that that’s settled, can you open the door and let me out? The Captain said, come to her when I was ready to make my decision.” Beckendorf shrugged before getting right up, headed off towards the ladder again.

“I don’t have the key, only Annabeth does, and she said that you would figure it out. How to come and see her, that is.” He then left, leaving me behind to contemplate what he could possibly mean by that. Though left alone once more, stuck in the brig, I guess I had nothing else to do but play with my powers some more. Stretching out my feelings again to the ship beneath me, I noted two things, I could feel the locked door to the brig...It was part of the boat, like everything else. 

Secondly, I felt the water churning around the boat again, though it was more intense. I thought we had avoided the storm though... I changed our direction specifically to avoid it! I started to shift the direction we have headed again, only for the course of the storm to move with us. This couldn’t be natural, could it? First, there were all the storms on the Cadmus, now this thing seems like it is following our ship. Then, I felt harsh waves starting to batter against the hull. Why?! We should have been hours out from the storm! I felt a shiver go up to my spine at the thought that ran through my head, was this thing...Sentient? 

I had to push those thoughts from my head for a moment just so I could focus on the door my attention shifting along with it, the metal door did not produce much feeling, admittedly, but I would feel a slight airflow around one particular place, the lock. Which was a mere turn away from my freedom. I would figure it out, huh?

Raising a hand just so focus on the movement, I slowly turned it hearing the door start to creak, metal shifting as I did so, and eventually, the iron doors started to open up before I opened my eyes. Well, that was a useful trick. 

“Alright, now to join the crew, I guess.” I stood up, only for a sudden jerk of the boat to throw me back to the floor, what the Hell? Standing up again, I stretched for a bit before running forward towards the ladder, ascending it and the rest of the decks until I was up top, where rain was pounding down in harsh sheets. Waves Rising and crashing into Scylla’s Sabre, lightning splitting the sky every few moments, landing dangerously close to our ship each time. 

“What the hell?!” I climbed up and was immediately hit by a harsh wall of wind that blew me back across the rain-slicked deck. Why were we in the middle of the storm now? It shouldn’t be moving this fast! No time, no time to dwell on that, I looked around and saw a pudgy blond man upon the helm, struggling to keep the wheel under control as the Sabre was beaten on all sides by the waves, I knew it...I needed to get up there. But I wasn’t going to risk going up the stairs with the violent waves and motions now!

“Nice of you to join us, Percy! Enjoy your meal?” I heard someone call out, and I saw it was one of the elves that had been after me yesterday, a little smirk on his face while he clung to a rope. I didn’t know who this one was, I think they called themselves Travis and Connor, right? 

“Yeah, it was fine, but I am more concerned with getting up on the helm! Think you can help?!” The brown-haired young man seemed to contemplate that for a bit before nodding and letting go of his rope and letting himself slide along towards me, keeping low, and gliding across the deck. 

“I’ll give you a boost up the railing, alright? You think you can get us out of this storm alive?!” The howling wind forced him to shout at the top of his lungs, and I simply nodded, hoping I could be seen well enough. 

“That’s the plan!” The man gave me a curt nod before crouching down, bringing his closed hands together as he slid towards me across the wet deck, and as he approached, I leaped up onto his hands. At the same time, he flung me upwards through the air, the wind pushing me towards my goal naturally as I turned in the air and skidded across the deck using my hand as a break, no doubt getting a few splinters along the way, but that didn’t matter now. I rushed towards the helm just as we crested an unusually large wave, the force of which, along with a loud crash of thunder and lightning strike, managed to fling the helmsman from his position and was flying backward towards the merciless ocean. 

“No!” I thrust out an arm behind me, commanding the ropes to grab him as I made my way to the wheel, hearing the ropes lash around the man, anchoring him to our ship for just long enough. For him to grab on and wrap his arms around it while I took the wheel in hand, and for a moment, everything seemed to disappear from around me. I only could feel the ship, its creaking, and the power I held over it with the wheel and the command I held before everything rushed back. 

Taking a breath, I started to turn the wheel, extending out my feeling once more. I was getting good at that, to the hull and the waters around us, moving my arms and commanding the ship along the safest path possible that I felt. My grip around the wheel like steel while I guided the Sabre through the waves and wind, turning and cresting the waves whenever I could, avoiding the harsher winds. Suddenly, the dark sky lit up with a bright flash of lightning, making it bright as noon for an instant while it struck our ship, blasting through the wood of the upper decks, thankfully it wouldn’t affect our ability to stay afloat but...I didn’t want to take any more blows like that! 

Looking up, I saw the mast bending like a palm tree in the wind, threatening to beak at any moment, I extended my will out that way, mentally demanding it to stay together, not snap, and needed it! We needed all of this! Once more, a massive ten-foot wave raced towards our ship from the side, and I had to spin the wheel as fast as I could to get us through it and to the nearest shore. The focus needed to maintain it all, I felt a headache throbbing through my skull...Crap, I couldn’t hold it like this for long! I stared out to the deck and saw a familiar waterfall of golden-hair...She was the best person to help, right?

“Annabeth!” She turned towards me, as I focused more on keeping the boat from being split by the waves, the mast and ropes creaking loudly as I mentally dropped my command over them. “I need you to keep the boat from capsizing! You can do that with the crew, right?! I can get us out of here...I think!” 

“You think!?” She screamed over the winds, looks like she knew how to project her voice better than I. 

“Do you have any better ideas?! I can guide us through the worst of it all! It’ll be up to you to keep us afloat!” 

“Gods above...Alright! But you better not sink us!” The Captain then started to run around the deck, barking orders to her crew, and they set about working, any sense of panic gone under her confident command. 

“If I do that, then we won’t be around much longer to suffer though my mistake!” I grunted before letting out a pleased sigh with myself and turned all my attention back to steering the ship, turning the wheel and rudder behind us, guiding it through the worst currents and waves. There had to be land nearby, right? I knew where we were and where we were going to change continuously as the direction of our ship shifted. 

I needed to get the point in my mind; on the next cresting of a wave, I got it, a small island, full of trees and foliage, but without a name, uninhabited most likely. We could get within safe distance within twenty minutes if I did things right. As we drifted the way towards our safe haven, the storm only got fiercer, I could feel the winds ripping away at my clothes, splitting them like knives and pricking against my skin but...We were almost there! I knew it! The waves got harsher, more challenging to navigate through without damaging the ship, we were going to need many repairs when this was done, that was for sure. 

As we approached the island, to the final barrier between us and freedom, the howling wind's sound seemed to pitch up, becoming a bit more piercing to my ears. Until the point where it was practically a screech ringing in my ears. And I swear I could see a woman emerging from the waves, rising twenty feet, with pale white skin and glowing green hair cascading down from her head, though the thing that struck me the most was her eyes...They were a swirling, blue-green the exact shade of my own, but the irises constantly spinning and churning like a maelstrom. 

Those eyes...They sent a shiver through my whole body. That was before her mouth opened, and a hauntingly beautiful song rang out through the noise of the waves crashing and thunder booming. 

“How dare you escape me! Your souls...They should have been mine to claim!! My champion will seek out your ship, and he will destroy you all in the name of Kymopelia!!” With that, there was one last blast of lighting, this one hitting our main mast dead on, through the strangest thing happened, our mast didn’t crack. It didn’t even seem like it was damaged. Instead, the only evidence that we have been hit at all was a design of a swirling whirlpool burned into the wood before we burst through to the other side of the storm and sunlight beamed down on all of us. 

Now, next to an island, I fell back from the helm in the safety of the free ocean. My vision started to darken from all the effort, my stomach feeling emptier than a ghost ship, gulping in the air while my body relaxed into the floor. The crew rushed around on the main deck below me, and I gave one final command to the ship, stop. Before exhaustion took over.


	3. A Chicken Pluckin Good Time

As the world descended into darkness from my exhaustion, the sound of the crew cheering victoriously around me, I felt a voice come into my ears, and suddenly I was on the deck of a ship again, but...It didn’t feel anything about the boat really, even when I tried to stretch out my senses like I had done before, but nothing. I could feel nothing on the ship. 

“Why must I go after this ship again? What is in store for me if I do so? It just sounds like a small privateering ship.” Hearing the voice, I looked up to see a man sitting in a chair, his face completely covered with a gold mask, one that had like, a bazillion snakes sticking out of it in random places, weird. 

“Why? Because I demand it! That is our pact! You gain dominion over MY storms, and you sink those that earn my ire! You may be my brother, but normally you could never taste the storm like I do. At most, you might have been able to conjure a small gale and miniature whirlpool!” I froze a bit, recognizing the voice and turning to see...A rainbow? Projecting the image of that giant that was in the storm, water running down her skin, and eyes glowing with fury.

“Yeah yeah. I know. Children of Poseidon don’t usually have deep power. We are more spread out or whatever. I’m special because you decided to give me unprecedented power over storms for a demigod for the minor powers I would receive otherwise. Whatever, I have the powers now. And you can’t take them away now, can you?” The man spoke in a smug voice as he leaned forward, a large golden necklace dangling from his throat. Displaying a brilliant aquamarine, one that seemed to be swirling on the inside, torrential. 

“Oh, you underestimate me, Chrysaor! I can sink your ship in a matter of moments if I so wished! Even those that managed to get away from me, they should have sunk but could not! The boat...It should have been under the control of my waves and wind, but it resisted me as if commanded to!” 

“Oh? Do tell.”

“What is there to say? The boat was battered by all sides, but it refused to turn over and capsize! It should have been destroyed! Less than driftwood! But no! It held together and managed to get along the one route that saved them! It is an injustice, they escaped death unjustly, and you must fix that!” 

“Hmm...Alright.” The man then sat back, reaching down to his neck and playing with the chain, a dark chuckle coming from his throat while he did so. 

“Just like that? No more sass? No more demands for your own benefit?” 

“Oh no, I am just curious now... We might have a new sibling after all, and some potential new powers for myself. Let’s hope he doesn’t know about the little competition we have going now.” 

“Bah! So you are doing this for your own benefit! Whatever at least I won’t have to pay you this time. The ship bears my mark, use that to find the target, and do what you wish with them.” The man in the golden mask nodded with a dark chuckle that echoed through my mind before I suddenly jerked up, smacking my head against an overhead beam with a hard thunk. 

“Ah! Um, sorry about that! I didn’t expect you to wake up so...Violently.” A new voice, I looked around with my sleepy eyes and spotted a blond man approaching me with caution, taking my head in his hands and carefully looking over the spot I hit the beam.

“Didn’t break the skin, that’s good...No need to get the medicine chest. I suppose you are good to go now, only suffered minor exhaustion during that little spat.” The man let go of my head and went to walk off, leaving me just a little confused about what the hell was going on.

“Um...Who are you? Sorry, I don’t think we have met.” 

“Oh! Yeah, of course, where are my manners! My name’s Will, I’m the surgeon aboard the Scylla’s Sabre, here to keep everyone in ship shape, you know.” The man went about, organizing a few medical tools and ointments he had on him with a small hum, seemingly ignoring me now.

“Oh well...Thank you for taking care of me. I guess you heard that I have accepted joining on the ship, right?” I slowly got up, sighing happily as I once again felt the soft rise and fall of a ship beneath me, that dream was way too weird and...It felt unnatural to be on a ship and not be swaying with it.

“Yes! Oh, speaking of the Captain wants to see you in her quarters. Something about the contract you are going to sign.” Oh...That, yeah, I gulped a bit before nodding and headed my way up the decks, coming onto the main where I heard a loud cheer.

“Hey, everyone! It’s the man of the hour! This is the guy who got us out of that damned storm!” One of the brothers called out. With a loud whoop followed by cheers from the rest of the crew and I, the shorter one smiled back with a small wave and a blush. Feeling absolutely awkward with all the praise they were levying on me while I shook my head.

“I didn’t do much, just navigated the best I could...You guys and the Captain are the real reasons we aren't sunken by now...” I shook my head as the Privateers continued to cheer, and I walked on through them to the Captain’s quarters. Stretching out my senses again, letting them guide me. I was getting better now, I could do it while walking and thinking about other things!

“Nonsense! Without your guidance, we all would be having a row with Davy Jones right now, Percy! Now, go and sign your papers so we can properly celebrate with ya.” I chuckled but nodded, knocking on the door before I opened it and saw Annabeth peering at me, her face neutral as she motioned me to sit.  
“Alright, so I supposed after that little show of heroism yesterday, you want to join my crew, right? I gave you a day’s time limit, but I suppose I can make an exception this once due to the...Extenuating circumstances that we were put through.” 

“Right...” I stared down at the contract before me, sweating a bit...The merchant ship I was on had one sure, but I had another sailor read that one out for me, but here I had no such luck as I stared at the piece of paper with those markings on it.

“Is there a problem with the terms?” 

“Oh no! I...Don’t think so, no...I don’t know.”

“Why not? You were on a similar contract before on the previous ship.”

“About that...Growing up poor, you don’t exactly set time aside for lessons on stuff like reading and writing.” 

“Oh.” She sounded surprised at that, looking down at her contract before looking up back at me with a bashful frown.

“I didn’t know you were illiterate. Sorry about that, would you like the terms readout for you?” I nodded, and she started reading, everything seemed fine. I had to obey the Captain, I would get paid according to how much I contributed to each raid and my navigational skills, I was to get at least two meals a day, if I was willing to pay for more then I was allowed to pay the cook, provided I give my own ingredients for her, lest I pay the Captain directly for the goods being used in my extra meal. The ship wasn’t going to take the blame for any injuries I acquired while sailing with them, but they would pay for any prosthetics needed for me to do my full duty as Helmsman. 

“Now, does that sound fair to you?” 

“Yes, but two final questions, how long do you expect me to sail with you? And what happens if I need to break the contract?” 

“You will be signing onto my ship for two years minimum, with extensions available at the end of your terms. As for breaking the contract, you will need to provide adequate compensation for our loss of your work, determined at the time and circumstances of breaking the contract.” I sighed, this business wasn’t going to be fun when I had to deal with it for breaking contract with the Cadmus, but this sounded like a better deal for me anyway, and it wasn’t like I had much choice in the matter.

“Alright, where do I sign? I was taught that at least.” She pointed to a small line at the bottom, and I put down my signature, selling away my right to work on any other ship for two years...Let’s hope they would be worth it.

“Welcome aboard Mr....Jackson, I look forward to working with you from now on.” I nodded, taking her extended hand with a slight flush on my cheeks.

“Oh, if it’s alright, can you just call me Percy? I don’t like being super formal, even if Tabern insisted on it on my last ship.” The woman just sighed before nodding.

“Yes, that’s fine. Just make sure you still refer to me properly and any superior officers that prefer that as well. I don’t care which name you call me by personally, as long as you don’t shorten my first name to anything but Annabeth.” With that and a final nod, walked with her out of the ship and onto the deck, where the men were still cheering happily as they went about their duties.

“So first order, I don’t know how but you know a lot of information about the ship, right? Can you tell me if we are seaworthy for the nearest port to get repairs?”

“It works by me like...Feeling what the boat feels, I guess, it's weird. Anyways sure, gimmie a moment.” With that, I closed my eyes and started to fully stretch myself out, noting the damage to the hull, some to our rudder, and a lot of other small nicks and gashes here and there, nothing to sink us immediately, but we would need to get a professional to repair the ship, and fast. Next was finding the nearest port. Retracting my senses from the boat, I tried to focus a bit more on our location and where we could possibly go, islands popping into my mind like little spots of light in the darkness behind my eyelids.

“Nearest Port town...Is probably a week away north northwest around this direction.” I pointed out where I felt the island before I opened my eyes, and I saw my Captain with a small smile on her face.

“I knew recruiting you would be a great idea. Now tell me, do you think the ship can make it there with time to spare? I don't want to be on a sinking ship as we pull into port for repairs.” 

“Maybe? If you want my honest opinion, Captain, we should probably drop some cargo and get us moving faster somehow. We could make it more comfortably then.” Annabeth nodded before looking to her crew with a smile on her face and did a massive clap.

“Ahoy, my crew! How are you on this fine day?!” A chorus of cheers rang out from the deck now as all eyes turned to her. “So, today is a great day! Last week we managed a successful raid, managed to get through a horrific storm, and have gained a new helmsman who was there through it all!” 

“Yeah! Go, Percy!” One of the brothers called out from the deck, making me groan some. What was she doing?

“Indeed. Now, I think that all of that is a cause for celebration, don’t you!? So today, you all get an extra day of shore leave to celebrate till your heart's content! You can even take three barrels of rum, the procured chickens, and some spices onto the island with you! No cost to you all for it!” Oh, so that was her idea. Well, I couldn’t say I disliked the prospect of having a bonfire on a deserted island. It seemed like my new crew agreed as they broke out into cries of joy before they went about, prepping the ship to stay in the island bay while they went off to the island.

“Sneaky, aren’t ya? I guess this will raise the opinion of you on the ship.” Annabeth hummed some as she turned to me, golden locks nearly whipping me in the face as she did so, her face neutral and stern.

“Well, I don’t want a mutiny on my hands now, do I? Besides, they do honestly deserve a break after the hell that was the storm. It’s just this way I benefit from unloading the cargo at the same time. Now, go down with them and introduce yourself to the rest of the crew, Percy. I need my crew working together as a cohesive unit.” I gave her a small salute and went down, blushing at the ribbing I was getting from everyone as I helped put down the riggings and the like. 

=

I chuckled as I lay against the beach again, the sun setting in the distance as I stared forward, heat from the bonfire making it so no chill would reach me tonight while the rest of the crew was off partying, drinking rum and gorging themselves on coconuts and mangos from the island itself. I was tempted to join them, but no. I couldn’t. Hearing someone stepping close to me, I looked up to see a woman with wavy black hair looking down at me, where did she come from?

“Mind telling me why you aren’t out there enjoying the time with the rest of the crew? I almost forgot to make your portion, you know.” What? I took a second look at her, the woman wore a grease-stained apron, held a ladle in hand and was looking at me with annoyance, was she the ship’s cook?

“Um, sorry? I just wanted to hang out a bit on my own for a bit Miss. I am not much for drinking, I have to be at the helm tomorrow and well, sailing with a massive headache that would follow such pleasantries is not a good idea.” The girl let out an exasperated sigh before nodding.

“Gods, you sound just like Annabeth. You know this party is meant to be fun, right? Let you get loose and joyous due to how you let us live?”

“Meh, I can have fun without drinking. If we had some instruments and the like, I could show you all some good pub songs, though I must ask, why are you here with me?” 

“Right now? I am about ready to start cooking dinner, and I need another pair of hands, and since you don’t look like you’re doing anything now. So let’s go, shall we?” I shrugged a little, this could be done I got up and followed her to the pot with some recently butchered chickens by the side, and Beckendorf already there delicately plucking the chickens with surprising dexterity with his big hands.

“I’m guessing you need me to do some plucking? I know a song for that if you don’t mind me singing while I work, that is. Oh, hey Beckendorf, I thought you would be off having a gay old time with the rest of the crew.” The First Mate just hummed a bit, his eyes flicking up to the cook with a dumb smile on his face.

“Well, Silena here needed help from me, and I couldn’t deny her could I? I could say much the same for you.” I chuckled at that but nodded and sat that, grabbing a chicken and starting the plucking with a tune on my lips. This wasn’t exactly a Pheasant, but it was close enough, I supposed. 

“Yes! Charlie is just so kind! All the other boys would rather be acting like idiots, trying to climb up trees while drunk off their asses. I am so grateful for both of you helping here. Oh Charlie, do you mind showing me what spices you use with the chicken? My mother was not as well versed in them as yours was.” Beckendorf's face lit up at that before, nodding eagerly and going to pluck faster than ever before, eager to help the woman looking between them for a bit, my eyes widened a bit. 

“Oh, and Percy, what part of the chicken do you most prefer? You deserve a bit of a reward for helping with the prep, I presume you know how to gut a chicken?”

“Oh, um...I don’t know? Growing up, I was never really able to eat birds mostly stuck to seafood, but...I guessed when I did have them, the legs were the best meat. I can gut fish pretty well though, is it a similar process?” 

“Hm, I had pegged you as a thigh man from the first time I saw you. Not too into breasts, huh?” My face flushed, what was she talking about? Her outburst of giggles at my face only made the blush deepen. “Don’t worry about it. The light meat is pretty juicy, I agree. Anyways, yes, I can show you the differences, but they are somewhat similar.”

Silena then grabbed a knife from her makeshift workstation and quickly showed me how to get an adequately plucked poultry, her dexterous hand moving with a crazy amount of swiftness and skill, though still slow enough for me to comprehend. “I really don’t want to see you angry now...Probably doesn't feel good to be gutted cleanly.” With bloody hands, Silena shrugged with a smirk at me before placing her knife down and heading down to the surf to clean off her hands.

“Breathtaking, isn’t she?” I looked over to Beckondorf, who seemed transfixed looking at Silena, her dark hair seeming to shine in the sunset, light hitting her just right.

“Oh? Is my first mate smitten with the cook? Are on ship relationships allowed?” If Beckendorf’s skin wasn’t so dark, I could’ve sworn I saw him blush before shaking his head,

“The Captain hasn’t said anything against them but...A kind lady like Silena would never want a brutish man like me, she is so careful, collected and beautiful and I’m...Well, look at me.” He then motioned to his body, it was bulky, with plenty of scar tissue from years working on ships, probably more than a few fights. 

“Oh, I don’t know. She seemed to like you plenty from where I was watching. Maybe she wants someone strong and rough? I don’t know, the girls never seemed to like me enough back home.” 

“They didn’t like you? With those broodish looks and natural way with a ship? I find that hard to believe.”

“It’s true, I think... They always seemed to avoid me, not that I blamed them, though. Smelt of the ocean and raw muscles most days, though I guess there was plenty of coconut scent mixed in. Anyways, she does seem like she enjoys your company, at least right? Why not give it a shot?” Beckendorf shook his head, letting out a small sigh before we went back to plucking the chickens when Silena came back, and I started a small pub song, it wasn't the same without backing instruments, but it was still a jolly tune that they got into.

\-----------------------------------------------------------

Finally, the night stars were twinkling high above us while the bonfire seemed to be burning hot and high, with plenty of the crew joined together in a few tunes or passed out drunk on the sands. Personally, I was in the middle of a small dice game between the Stolls, Travis, and Connor, I had learned. With the prize, we were gambling for being what leftover roasted mangos were left from the feast. 

“Alright, boys, this is the last roll! This one is for all the mangos! I am looking forward to lording my scurvyless ass over you all!” Travis chuckled as he rolled the dice, his eyes meeting his brothers with a nod, then when he threw out the dice, Connor snapped his fingers, accompanied by a soft flash of flight, and as I blinked it out I looked down to the table, and Travis rolled snake eyes, winning. 

“And that, my dear friends, are the fruits of my labor, praying to Tchye every night really pulls through in the best situations.” I was highly suspicious of this, but whatever, we were only betting fruit, and so I passed my share to him before getting up and stretching, looking out to the crew and noting an absence of golden hair. Now, where was my Captain? Scanning the beach again, I caught her form, out on a bit of the shore jetting pretty far out into the water.

“Well, that was fun, boys, but I think I should turn in before you literally gamble the pants off of me. These are my only pair, and I would rather not have sunburnt cheeks after sailing tomorrow.” 

“Have you seen your skin, Percy? If you weren't moving around constantly, you could be mistaken for a bronze statue.” Connor barked a bit as he snatched one of Travis's mangos and started munching on it. 

“Yeah, but I became really pink before that, I would rather not risk it.” I gave them a mock salute before leaving, my eyes pointed towards the little outcropping that the Captain was sitting on, and smiled as I approached her. “Mind telling me why you’re here instead of drinking and having fun with the crew?” 

“I could ask you the same question, but if you must know. I need to set an example, and I don’t think they would like my company anyway. Having their boss hanging around while they try to relax can’t be the best for them.”

“Depends on the kind of Captain you are. As for why I’m here, I’m to man the helm tomorrow, right? I don't want to do that while fighting a hangover, and I saw my commanding officer here on her lonesome. Decided to fix one of the issues.” I sat next to her, staring out, looking at the brightly burning fire in the distance, the shadows of the crew members dancing in the orange light looking quite macabre. 

“My my, aren’t you being forward with me. Especially because of how we met and all.”

“With you kidnapping me, questioning me, and then offering me a job? Yeah, I wouldn’t really expect this either, but I feel like you are a good person. I’ve learned to trust my gut most times. It gets me into trouble about as much as it gets me out of it.”

“Oh? Am I trouble? Or a way out of it?”

“I guess we’ll just have to see, won’t we? Though, who’s to say you can’t be both? Trouble can be a lot of fun, you know.” 

“I guess it all depends on if you can get out of it, though. I imagine it isn’t very fun during the conflict.”

“Depends really, but yeah... Mind if I ask you something, Annabeth?” 

“Yes?”  
“Why didn’t you just like...Kill me or something back on the merchant ship? You could have, you really could have and eliminated me. If I didn’t join you, I could have turned your very ship against you, but you took the risk. Why?”

“I guess...I just had a good feeling about you. You didn’t kill my men when you could have easily done so, you were clever enough to try and turn a bad situation to your advantage, and from what Frank said, you looked pretty miserable working under Greece.”

“Frank?”

“The man we usually have up in the crow’s nest, he has the crew's best eyes. Also, our main marksman, I usually have him running support fire from the nest, so he cant be shot back easily.”

“Ah...Well, I guess we can only trust in both our hunches, for now, can’t we?”

“I guess so.” With that, we fell into a soft silence, staring at the fire until it died down, and all we could see was the stars glistening above us like a thousand diamonds, twinkling with light.


	4. Chapter 4

So, as I learned o]in the week Sailing with Annabeth and crew, being the helmsman was a pretty dull job, vital as it was. Staring out at the ocean all day while occasionally moving the wheel one way or the other to keep on course as the rest of the crew scattered about like ants to make sure it was all running smoothly. Our ship was running just fine, and I couldn't complain about that, I guessed. I just wish there was something more I could do, I supposed, letting go of the wheel. I let out a hum and walked over to the back edge of the ship, taking control of the rudder now and then to make sure we were on track as I while I stared out into the sea.

I watched it, swirling and crashing. The waves giving the boat a gentle rise and fall, and as I stared into the ocean. The blues and greens mixing together in a beautiful amalgamation, I couldn't help but wonder, what the hell was with that giant woman in the storm, who was her supposed “champion?” It wasn’t like he could deny that all being real now; the burn mark on their mast was proof enough of that. 

“Percy, I’m gonna need you to write up a full report on the damage the ship has. I want it detailed as possible for when we hit the town for repairs.” Annabeth’s voice brought me out my own head. Oh yeah, we were almost to the port town where they would probably be unloading the rest of their cargo. 

“Sure, though, I don’t think our lessons have gotten far enough for me to write up the report to your satisfaction, Captain. Wouldn’t it be better if you tran-tran...Wrote down, whatever I said?”

“Maybe, but I will be watching over you the whole time to make corrections and the like. Think of this as your homework, we have to get it done, and you’re gonna have to start doing it all on your own eventually.” Annabeth walked up next to me, leaning forward onto the ship’s railing to look out to the sea and sky. 

“Why is that?” 

“Because I have other things to do as the Captain to keep this ship running. I can’t always be there writing down things when you need to put ink to paper, Percy. You are doing surprisingly well in our lessons as well, so don’t sell yourself short.” I shrugged, supposing there was some truth to her statement. I had never expected to pick it up before, but using those symbols to write things down was surprisingly natural.

“When do you want it? I’m a little busy here, being at the helm if you can’t tell.” 

“Oh shove off, Percy. You and I both know that this is trivial to you. Anyways I want a report by tomorrow evening, alright? We should be able to reach port shortly after that.” I nodded again, simple enough, made sense. Though there were a few more questions on my mind. 

“Ok, but...Captain, you are plenty educated, right? You know a lot more about things than I do at least.”   
“I suppose you could call me that, yes. I had a formal education back where I’m from. What do you need to know?”

“Have you ever heard of... Kymopoleia?” I let out a sigh afterward, leaning away from the railing and sliding down, so my back was facing it, my eyes looking up at our mast and staring at the swirling burn mark. Was it really there? No one else seemed to acknowledge it on the ship. Not that I’d seen at least, but it hadn’t gone away, and that hauntingly musical screech from the woman in the ocean still echoed through my mind as it stared back at me.

“I... May have yes, though, what has brought this on? I thought that you were going to ask about writing tips or something,”

“Well...” I contemplated saying it out loud. If I told her I heard it in my dreams after the storm, would she believe me? If I told her that I saw a giant stormy woman in the middle of the storm, would I be put in the brig again because they thought I was going insane? “It’s nothing... Just a story or something I remember from my youth, I recall the name but not much else.” 

Annabeth raised an eyebrow, clearly skeptical about my thin lie, but she didn’t press the issue. Instead of turning around and leaning her back against the railing, her eyes pointed upwards. I followed her gaze. It was right at the mark. Could she see it too? “Well, admittedly, I don’t know too much about her, but... According to legend, she is the Greek goddess of violent sea storms, daughter of Amphitrite and Poseidon.”

Poseidon, that name. As soon as she said it, I felt something resonate within me. Though I had no clue as to what it was. “Anything else about her?” So, this woman who might be after my tanned butt was the goddess of violent sea storms, was she? That explained where she first showed up, at least.

“Not much, she was married to Briares, a hundred handed one. She is also known to be very temperamental and quick to anger, well I guess you can suspect as much from a storm goddess.”

“That’s it? No talk of anything like say...A champion? No one named Chryseaor or anything?”

“That’s highly specific information, but...No, I don’t think so. There is no mention of a Chryseaor when related to Kymopoleia unless you mean like very tangentially.” I gulped a little, wondering what that was. Motioning for Annabeth to continue on while I tried to focus on the ship's movement to keep myself at least a little calm.

“Well, there was a Chryseaor mentioned in the myths. He was the demigod son of Poseidon, born when Perseus cut off Medusa’s head. He and the immortal Pegasus sprung from the stump of Medusa’s neck. So, in a way, you could say they are brother and sister.” Crap! Everything was lining up!   
“You said he was a demigod though, shouldn't- ah wouldn’t this guy be dead by now? Unless demigods have immortality in that way.” I closed my eyes, thinking about how those people said I could be their sibling? If they were connected by their father then...No, I didn’t want to think about that.

“Yes, he should be dead by now. Though that doesn’t really mean anything, someone could be born again, and given his same name, it’s the same deal as you, Percy. What's your full name?”

“Perseus...Mom gave me the name cause my dad was greek, and well, Perseus is like the only greek hero who had a happy ending according to her.”

“Right, she is there. Anyways, there could always be another person born given Chryseaor’s name like you were given Perseus’, does that make sense?” I nodded, yeah, it made sense. It made too much sense, god damn it! Taking a few moments to calm myself again, I looked up to see Annabeth smiling down at me, a look in her eyes saying she knew more about this then she was letting on.

“So, is your curiosity sated for now? Because you really do need to get to writing that reports for me soon.” I nodded, my mind was still racing with ideas. What kind of implications did this have for me? Was I a-a Demigod? No, that couldn’t be it, I would know by now. Mom would have told me at least once in casual conversation. Just a simple “Hey, your dad’s the god of the ocean. Just thought you should know.” That would have been enough, but now, she had said he was a simple greek sailor all my life. 

“W-well, I do have one more question. If someone is a...Demigod, wouldn’t they know like, instinctively? Or their parents would tell them something, right?” 

“Hmm, maybe. These are all just myths after all, but if the stories were true. Wouldn’t knowing you’re a demigod attract a ton of monsters and a bad fate? Like you said, Demigods almost always have tragic endings. Maybe if they didn’t know what they were, one could avoid that fate.” Annabeth shrugged some, stepping off and away from her place on the deck as she started to walk forward, floorboards creaking beneath her.

“I disagree with that notion, though, the heroes of old. They all had horrible fates brought on by their own flaws, overconfidence, and love for praise and glory. There was no one to keep them in check, that’s all. Hiding that nature from one, I see it as far more dangerous. If they encounter something from the myths, say a monster, without any knowledge of who they are and what they can do, well, I am sure they won’t last very long.” The woman made her way over to another railing. One overlooking the entire ship, Annabeth looked out at the ship with a tiny bit of pride in her eyes.

“So, I- a demigod, isn’t necessarily destined for a horrible life?” I closed my eyes, not wanting to think about what could happen now. I wasn’t a demigod, I just wasn’t! There had to be some other reason for my powers...That rainbow thing must have been a mistake!

“Depends on your definition of horrible, I suppose. Even Perseus had a life filled with hardship and trials, though, in the end, he found the love of his life and died peacefully in his bed. Do you think you can follow his example?” She turned her head a bit, those stormy grey eyes of hers boring into my own. She must have been talking about the namesake thing, me living a good life despite whatever's being thrown at me, right? She can’t actually believe I’m a... 

“I can only try my best. I don’t think I’ll reach the point of slaying a sea monster to save a princess, though.” Annabeth let out a low chuckle as if there was a joke I wasn’t in on. 

“I don’t know, us sailors do see some crazy things. Maybe you will end up rescuing a lovely maiden from the jaws of a monster.” She gave me a slight smile before letting loose a sigh and stretching her arms out slowly, joints audibly popping as she did so. “Anyways, I need to get back to running this ship of ours, and you need to get writing.” Then, she left. Walking her way down below the decks, leaving me up on the wood, pondering our talk. How much did Annabeth know? And why did I feel like she wasn’t telling me everything she could?

-

The ship pulled up to the port town of Hispol a few days later. We were doing quite well, all things considered. The boat wasn’t halfway through sinking at least, as we moored at the dock. I set about making everything as smooth as possible. It was a little hard, resisting the urge to use my power over the ship to do so because that might get me burned as a witch or something...Not the most pleasant experience, I’m sure.

As the ship was pulled into the shipyard with my report for repairs, I watched the crew all get off. No doubt headed off to sell the loot and get drunk at the local bar. Annabeth’s barking only having a mild influence on the men as they nodded, we had a few days to enjoy the island. Though I knew I wasn’t going anywhere like they were.

Grabbing my hammock from my quarters, I set about onto the island. Carrying the bundle on my back as I passed through the market, where Silena was haggling in another language with some random shopkeeps for fruit and meat, Beckendorf not far off. Though he was talking with some tool vendors instead, his arms laden with bags brimmed with their purchases. Silena occasionally looks back at Beckendorf with a spark of love in her eyes.

How could my friend not see that the cook absolutely adored him? Whatever now was not the time to play matchmaker. Not that I would be any good at it, I needed to find the right spot to camp out for the next few days. Finally, finding a nice place between two low hanging palms on the beach, I tied up my hammock and nodded, set for a while now I supposed.   
With my temporary home set up, I set about budgeting for the stay at the island. I needed to save the most money possible, after all. So first, I had to make a list of scavengable foods from what I had seen today then figure out water prices for a five-day stay. Nothing personal was allowed, no pleasantries or anything like that. If I was going to pay for Tyson’s education along with their living expenses, I couldn’t afford to get anything for myself.

I spent hours mapping it out in my head, how everything was going to go when I heard someone walking up from behind me. “You know, we were wondering where you went off to. Didn’t you hear the Captain? We’re meeting at the Floppy Manta to get our wages.” Turning around, I saw Frank there, a little awkward as he motioned back towards town.

“Just tell her to put mine with my bunk when we get back on the ship.” 

“Don’t you want anything to spend?” I shook my head.

“I don’t want to be tempted, I’m not the best with Impulse control, you know? So I would rather just stay here for the next few days. You’re welcome to join me if you want to.” It would be nice to have someone to talk to, and I didn’t really know Frank that well, despite the week we spent on the ship, which was a shame because he seemed like a pretty cool guy. 

“Are you going to be sleeping out here? Why not stay at the inn? The rooms are pretty cheap, you know...It’s gonna get pretty cold out here, maybe rainy.”

“Maybe, but I don’t have to pay at all staying here. Can you say that for the inn or pub? No, no, you can’t.” Frank gulped a little, clearly nervous, but he sat down, watching the sky and clouds while he tried to think of something.

“What about food? Are you not spending anything on that? Eating fresh stuff would be nice compared to the preserved meals that Silena gives us, great as they are compared to regular sailing food.”

“I can find stuff around easy enough. I could even get water from a river or something on the island, so there isn’t any problem with me staying here. Really, I don’t want to spend anything, but if you feel like going and getting drunk in the pub with everyone else, I won’t stop ya.”

“But then you’d be alone, the crew is supposed to stick together and support each other, right? I don’t think the Captain would approve of me leaving one of our own out in the wind and cold nights...” It was a kind of flimsy reason, but I didn’t mind that. It wasn’t like I had reason to drive him away either.

“Then stick around, I would love to learn more about you and how you got...Here, don’t see too many Chinese Franks around, you know?” I chuckled a bit, with Frank joining in awkwardly.

“Funny how you phrase it like that...My family actually comes from the French Colonies up in Canada so, you just described me to a T.” 

“Oh, really?” The coincidence brought a laugh to my lips, so I was dealing with someone from up north, eh?

“So, is the Caribbean a bit hotter than what you’re used to up north? I don’t see you much on the higher decks. It would make sense if you wanted to avoid the heat.”

“Oh, it isn’t that! In fact, it can get quite hot up in Quebec during the summer. It’s more the humidity that gets me, that and the Sun. I would rather not end up a bright pink after hanging around up there all day. Not all of us tan as well as you do.” Frank laughed, a little nervous as he watched the Sun lowering even more, probably worried about the Captain’s wrath if they were late to get their wages. Standing up, I stretched a little and reached down, extending my hand to Fank with a soft smile.

“Yeah, I’m one of the lucky ones out a sea. The Sun only makes me get better with time. Anyways, let’s go and get our shares. I don't want Annabeth pissed at me tomorrow for missing this. I think she’s already annoyed with how messy my bunk on the ship usually is.” He gave me a soft, nervous little smile before nodding and grabbing my palm.

“We are coming back hereafter, though, maybe start a fire and talk over that. Like you said, it will get cold. But we can start a fire here for free, long as we get the wood ourselves.” 

“Why are you so insistent on not spending money? If you don’t mind me asking.” I shrugged, walking with him towards the pub in town.

“There are more important things to me than getting drunk and meaningless shit, I guess. I don’t want to risk going down the Alcohol route, and anything else I would want with my share is too expensive. What about you? What do you want to spend your money on?” He flushed a bit before chuckling.

“It’s going to sound weird, but...Chemicals and rope, I like creating trick bolts for my crossbow sometimes. So messing around with that stuff for new combinations with Beckendorf is how I spend most of my free time.”

“Crossbow? I thought the sniper would use a rifle or something of that sort.” 

“Oh, no!” Frank shook his head. “I’m horrible with a gun, can’t aim one to save my life, a crossbow or just regular bow though? I bet I could split an arrow just like Robin Hood if the need arises.” 

“Oh, really? I would love to see that in action! Maybe we can try it on the next raid, Captain permitting, of course. It would certainly be an impressive show of force.” 

“I guess it would. But those are thoughts for the future, right? Let’s just...Enjoy tonight by that fire you talked about.”

“Sounds like a brilliant idea Frank.” I nodded before shooting him a smirk and taking off full speed towards the Floppy Manta, hoping we wouldn't get in trouble just yet.


End file.
